Hundreds of musicians and dancers from all over the world will be converging on the beautiful 90-acre grounds of Newport's historical heritage to celebrate the 26th year of the Tredegar House Folk Festival on the weekend of May 8-10.

Spectacular performers from Canada, Sri Lanka, Latvia and neighbouring England will be receiving the warmest of Welsh welcomes, and dance teams and bands from South Wales will be flying the Welsh flag. The committee chair, Sue Oates, said: "For many festival-goers, Tredegar House weekend represents the beginning of summer - it's a very special occasion."

The imposing Tredegar House was the home of the highly-influential Morgan family - later Lords Tredegar - for more than 500 years. Originally stone-built, it was constructed on a larger scale between 1664 and 1672 by William Morgan. It is administered today by The National Trust.

Families from Newport and the surrounding area look forward to a free day out at the festival, watching the exciting young dancers from the Latvian village of Degumnieki, the Madhuka dancers from Sri Lanka, the Appalachian tradition from the mountains of rural America, Middle Eastern belly dancing, Spanish flamenco from Andalusia, the beautiful art of Bharata Natyam displayed by India Dance Wales, traditional Morris from England and South Wales, northern English clog dancing and Welsh traditional dance shown by three teams, Gwerinwyr Gwent from the village Bassaleg, Cwmni Gwerin Pont-y-Pŵl and Dawnswyr Gwerin Pen-y-Fai, who have won a world-wide reputation.

There's even a free concert, run by Llantrisant Folk Club, with Jonny Dyer and Vicki Swan topping the bill. In keeping with the festival's international theme, hear Vicki playing the graceful and entrancing nickelharpa, a complicated Swedish 'mechanical violin'.

But there's a treat for punters that pay for a ticket. Bob Fox, who plays The Songman in the National Theatre's smash-hit production of War Horse, is coming to the festival - and the hit of the festival is Gordie MacKeeman and His Rhythm Boys, hailing from Canada's Price Edward Island, who will be delivering the breathtaking sound of fiery and frenetic fiddle bluegrass styles combined with some jaw-dropping and acrobatic footwork.

Steve Tilston, sponsored by Newport Folk Club, delights everyone with his inspiring songwriting craft and his assured guitar style. Gwent valleys band Allan Yn Y Fan have just expanded to a sextet, with new recruits, lead vocalist Catrin O'Neill and fiddler Alan Cooper, joining them for the first major Welsh event of the new year. Catrin grew up in Southern Snowdonia, and it was her Nain (grandmother) who first introduced her to the storehouse of Welsh folk song. Catrin was one of the musicians and singers of the highly successful project “10 mewn bws/10 on a bus”, which was engineered by the all-Wales folk development organisation trac. The project generated a massive wave of interest in Welsh music circles, and this year was nominated for a National Lottery award. Alan started as a classical musician and has a wealth of experience accompanying artists and in bands playing America and Europe and recording albums as well.

Allan Yn Y Fan have recorded many albums and played in Europe, at the gigantic Lorient Interceltique in Brittany and at the prestigious Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow.

Among the highlights are Yorkshire multi-instrumentalist Pete Coe and dancer/musician Alice Jones, who present their fascinating story-show on Leeds-born singer and song collector Frank Kidson, 'The Search For Five-Finger Frank'. Pete and Alice have released a CD of a the show, which features new arrangements of both classic and rare folk songs, unearthed from the treasure trove that is the Frank Kidson Collection. Kidson was born in 1855 and died in 1926, and his first and most enduring song collection, 'Traditional Tunes', was first published in 1891, ten years before Cecil Sharp had even heard his first folk song.

This show celebrates and commemorates the incredible legacy of a man widely regarded as a pioneer of the folk song revival. Pete and Alice have had full access to his original manuscripts and broadside collection, and have even had help from Kidson’s descendants along the way. Audiences will be amazed to learn that many of the songs now popular in the folk repertoire of today were initially collected and published by this founder member of the Folk Song Society and key figure in the folk movement of the early 1900s.

One of the rising young stars is 14-year-old local fiddler Meg Cox, who fronts the Meg Cox Band and plays tenor guitar and banjo as well. The Festival welcomes other young artists such as Jaywalkers, who reached the finals of the BBC Young Folk Awards and have cemented their reputation as stunning bluegrass musicians.

Last but not least is the mighty dance band Juice, who will be linking up with the expert Cardiff caller Dave Parsons for the Saturday night twmpath/ceilidh. Originally from the Gwent Levels village of Castleton and named Juice Of Barley, the band was formed by musical parents Gil and Jenny Kilbride and their three sons, Danny, Bernard and Gerard. Now Danny is guitarist with Juice and combines his busy musician's role with being director of trac. He is joined by his brother Bernard on fiddle, and the current line-up consists of flautist Imogen O'Rourke, Dean Ryan on bass and drummer-percussionist Dave Danford.   

Tredegar House and Country Park is half a mile from Junction 28 on the M4, and the post-code is NP10 8YW. The Festival website is http://www.tredegarhousefestival.org.uk/